Lena Horne

Merry from Lena
$11.98
This is a really great christmas album from LENA HORNE, one of the best in the female 'crooner' styled christmas albums ever recorded. And very romantic at that.

This album is great at any time during the christmas season, but would probably be at it's best for that evening/nightime christmas music when one just wants to settle down, perhaps with that special someone. It also makes fantastic background christmas music for company during the christmas season.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY is probably the best song on the album and it begins this whole recording off in a very deep, romantic and lounge 'styled' way. This song is really 'Jingle Bells' but not done in your typical fashion, even in it's upbeat moments as it's geared more into the romantic side of things rather a family 'fun' styled song. Even RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER comes across as very romantic.

Some other songs that fit this romantic, 'crooner' styled theme are WHITE CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS SONG.

Other great songs are LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! and a bonus song, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, both which have real loud big band brassy parts in them. And every other song is great too, nothing weak anywhere.

LENA HORNE'S singing is just top-notch and as mentioned, very sexy and romantic. The orchestra is spectacular throughout providing lot's of big band brass sounds and some very lush string sounds such as violins and all done to help create that romantic 'christmas' sound. This is for sure, one of the most romantic christmas albums ever recorded.

The whole cd is flawless from start to end and if you like that romantic 'crooner' sound that FRANK SINATRA and DEAN MARTIN were famous for in their non-christmas recordings from back in the 1950's and 1960's, then this is for you, but all done with a 'christmas' flavour. Of course, very, very recommended from me!

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
$27.00
"Stormy Weather" is not only a voluminous study of the life of Ms. Horne, but of the lives of many of the renown and the talented who lived through the years of the Great Depression and endured and/or participated in the poverty and the bigotry that was everywhere evident at that time.
"Stormy Weather" portrays Lena as a woman with the strength to endure a difficult life and the frailties that made her life difficult and untimately unrewarding. This is a book worth reading.

Stormy Weather
$14.98
Remembering this as a true period piece in film, "Stormy Weather", nonetheless is both delightful and difficult to view. It's standard black stereotyping does nothing to enhance a miserable plot and bad acting. Yet, performances by Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the impressive Nicholas brothers are wonderful. Lena Horne, sings her signature piece, "Stormy Weather", of course. If one can get past the dialogue, there is much merit in the film.

Feelin' Good/Lena in Hollywood
$16.98
Like a prayer or an affirmation, the first song on this recording haunted me and made me glad I was alive, even if I felt awkward and stupid. She ends the album with "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" which seemed more appropriate at that time in my life, but one can't lose hope. And Lena was one of many who helped me learn about artistry. She's a stylist. No doubt! But this CD is solid and Lena before her big come-back in the 1980's.